Skip to Main Content
Buena Vista University

MLA Citations (9th ed.): Number

This guide will help you format your paper and cite your sources according to MLA.

Library contact information

Email: library@bvu.edu

Text us: 712-794-4288

Chat online with a BVU Librarian

Schedule an appointment with a BVU librarian
(This can be an electronic meeting or F2F)

 

What is a Number?

The source you are documenting may be part of a sequence, like a numbered volume, issue, episode, or season. A text too long to be printed in one book, for instance, is issued in multiple volumes, which may be numbered.

If your source uses a numbering system, indicate the number in the entry, preceded by a common abbreviation or term that identifies the kind of division the number refers to.

Always use arabic numerals in the Number element.

Journal Issues

Journal issues are typically numbered. Some journals use both volume and issues numbers. In general, the issues of a journal published in a single year compose one volume.

Usually, volumes are numbered sequentially, while the numbering of issues starts over with 1 in each new volume.

Example:

Bakara, Hadji. "Time, Sovereignty, and Refugee Writing." PMLAvol. 137, no. 3, 2022, pp. 442-457. Cambridge Core, https://doi.org/10.1632/S003081292200027X.

Other journals do not use volume numbers but instead number all the issues in sequence.

Example:

Rich, Kelly M. "Sight Unseen: Proxy War, Proxy Adoption." Representationsno. 163, 2023, pp. 51-78. University of California Press Online, https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2023.163.4.51.

Other Sources

Comic books are commonly numbered like journals - for instance, with issue numbers.

Example:

Clowes, Daniel. David BoringEightball, no. 19, Fantagraphics, 1998.

The seasons of a podcast or television series are typically numbered, as are the episodes in a season. Both numbers should be recorded in the works cited list if they are available.

Example:

"After Life." Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, season 6, episode 3, Mutant Enemy, 2001.